Science in the Kitchen. by Mrs. E. E. Kellogg

M >> Mrs. E. E. Kellogg >> Science in the Kitchen.

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STEWED BEANS.--Soak a quart of white beans in water over night. In
the morning drain, turn hot water over them an inch deep or more, cover,
and place on the range where they will only just simmer, adding boiling
water if needed. When nearly tender, add salt to taste, a tablespoonful
of sugar if desired, and half a cup of good sweet cream. Cook slowly an
hour or more longer, but let them be full of juice when taken up, never
cooked down dry and mealy.

MASHED BEANS.--Soak over night in cold water, a quart of nice white
beans. When ready to cook, drain, put into boiling water, and boil till
perfectly tender, and the water nearly evaporated. Take up, rub through
a colander to remove the skins, season with salt and a half cup of
cream, put in a shallow pudding dish, smooth the top with a spoon, and
brown in the oven.

STEWED LIMA BEANS.--Put the beans into boiling water, and cook till
tender, but not till they fall to pieces. Fresh beans should cook an
hour or more, and dry ones require from two to three hours unless
previously soaked. They are much better to simmer slowly than to boil
hard. They should be cooked nearly dry. Season with salt, and a cup of
thin cream, to each pint of beans. Simmer for a few minutes after the
cream is turned in. Should it happen that the beans become tender before
the water is sufficiently evaporated, do not drain off the water, but
add a little thicker cream, and thicken the whole with a little flour. A
little flour stirred in with the cream, even when the water is nearly
evaporated may be preferred by some.

SUCCOTASH.--Boil one part Lima beans and two parts sweet corn
separately until both are nearly tender. Put them together, and simmer
gently till done. Season with salt and sweet cream. Fresh corn and beans
may be combined in the same proportions, but as the beans will be likely
to require the most time for cooking, they should be put to boil first,
and the corn added when the beans are about half done, unless it is
exceptionally hard, in which case it must be added sooner.

PULP SUCCOTASH.--Score the kernels of some fresh green corn with a
sharp knife blade, then with the back of a knife scrape out all the
pulp, leaving the hulls on the cob. Boil the pulp in milk ten or fifteen
minutes, or until well done. Cook some fresh shelled beans until tender,
and rub them through a colander. Put together an equal quantity of the
beans thus prepared and the cooked corn pulp, season with salt and
sweet cream, boil together for a few minutes, and serve. Kornlet and
dried Lima beans may be made into succotash in a similar manner.

_LENTILS._

DESCRIPTION.--Several varieties of the lentil are cultivated for
food, but all are nearly alike in composition and nutritive value. They
have long been esteemed as an article of diet. That they were in
ordinary use among the Hebrews is shown by the frequent mention of them
in Scripture. It is thought that the red pottage of Esau was made from
the red variety of this legume.

The ancient Egyptians believed that a diet of lentils would tend to make
their children good tempered, cheerful, and wise, and for this reason
constituted it their principal food. A gravy made of lentils is largely
used with their rice by the natives of India, at the present day.

The meal which lentils yield is of great richness, and generally
contains more casein than either beans or peas. The skin, however, is
tough and indigestible, and being much smaller than peas, when served
without rejecting the skins, they appear to be almost wholly of tough,
fibrous material; hence they are of little value except for soups,
_purees_, toasts, and other such dishes as require the rejection of the
skin. Lentils have a stronger flavor than any of the other legumes, and
their taste is not so generally liked until one has become accustomed to
it.

Lentils are prepared and cooked in the same manner as dried peas, though
they require somewhat less time for cooking.

The large dark variety is better soaked for a time previous to cooking,
or parboiled for a half hour and then put into new water, to make them
less strong in flavor and less dark in color.

_RECIPES._

LENTIL PUREE.--Cook the lentils and rub through a colander as for
peas _puree_. Season, and serve in the same manner.

LENTILS MASHED WITH BEANS.--Lentils may be cooked and prepared in
the same manner as directed for mashed peas, but they are less strong in
flavor if about one third to one half cooked white beans are used with
them.

LENTIL GRAVY WITH RICE.--Rub a cupful of cooked lentils through a
colander to remove the skins, add one cup of rich milk, part cream if it
can be afforded, and salt if desired. Heat to boiling, and thicken with
a teaspoonful of flour rubbed smooth in a little cold milk. Serve hot on
nicely steamed or boiled rice, or with well cooked macaroni.

TABLE TOPICS.

The men who kept alive the flame of learning and piety in the Middle
Ages were mainly vegetarians.--_Sir William Axon._

According to Xenophon, Cyrus, king of Persia, was brought up on a
diet of water, bread, and cresses, till his fifteenth year, when
honey and raisins were added; and the family names of Fabii and
Lentuli were derived from their customary diet.

Thomson, in his poem, "The Seasons," written one hundred and sixty
years ago, pays the following tribute to a diet composed of seeds
and vegetable
products:--#/

"With such a liberal hand has Nature flung
These seeds abroad, blown them about in winds-- ...
But who their virtues can declare? who pierce,
With vision pure, into those secret stores
Of health and life and joy--the food of man,
While yet he lived in innocence and told
A length of golden years, unfleshed in blood?
A stranger to the savage arts of life--
Death, rapine, carnage, surfeit, and disease--
The _lord_, and not the _tyrant_ of the world."

Most assuredly I do believe that body and mind are much influenced
by the kind of food habitually depended upon. I can never stray
among the village people of our windy capes without now and then
coming upon a human being who looks as if he had been split, salted,
and dried, like the salt fish which has built up his arid organism.
If the body is modified by the food which nourishes it, the mind and
character very certainly will be modified by it also. We know enough
of their close connection with each other to be sure of what without
any statistical observation to prove it.--_Oliver Wendell Holmes._

The thoughts and feelings which the food we partake of provokes, are
not remarked in common life, but they, nevertheless, have their
significance. A man who daily sees cows and calves slaughtered, or
who kills them himself, hogs "stuck," hens "plucked," etc., cannot
possibly retain any true feeling for the sufferings of his own
species....Doubtless, the majority of flesh-eaters do not reflect
upon the manner in which this food comes to them, but this
thoughtlessness, far from being a virtue, is the parent of many
vices....How very different are the thoughts and sentiments produced
by the non-flesh diet!--_Gustav Von Struve._

That the popular idea that beef is necessary for strength is not a
correct one, is well illustrated by Xenophon's description of the
outfit of a Spartan soldier, whose dietary consisted of the very
plainest and simplest vegetable fare. The complete accoutrements of
the Spartan soldier, in what we would call heavy marching order,
weighed seventy-five pounds, exclusive of the camp, mining, and
bridge-building tools and the rations of bread and dried fruit which
were issued in weekly installments, and increased the burden of the
infantry soldier to ninety, ninety-five, or even to a full hundred
pounds. This load was often carried at the rate of four miles an
hour for twelve hours _per diem_, day after day, and only when in
the burning deserts of southern Syria did the commander of the
Grecian auxiliaries think prudent to shorten the usual length of the
day's march.

DIET OF TRAINERS.--The following are a few of the restrictions and
rules laid down by experienced trainers:--

Little salt. No course vegetables. No pork or veal. Two meals a day;
breakfast at eight and dinner at two. No fat meat is allowed, no
butter or cheese, pies or pastry.

VEGETABLES

Vegetables used for culinary purposes comprise roots and tubers, as
potatoes, turnips, etc.; shoots and stems, as asparagus and sea-kale;
leaves and inflorescence, as spinach and cabbage; immature seeds,
grains, and seed receptacles, as green peas, corn, and string-beans; and
a few of the fruity products, as the tomato and the squash. Of these the
tubers rank the highest in nutritive value.

Vegetables are by no means the most nutritious diet, as water enters
largely into their composition; but food to supply perfectly the needs
of the vital economy, must contain water and indigestible as well as
nutritive elements. Thus they are dietetically of great value, since
they furnish a large quantity of organic fluids. Vegetables are rich in
mineral elements, and are also of service in giving bulk to food. An
exclusive diet of vegetables, however, would give too great bulk, and at
the same time fail to supply the proper amount of food elements. To
furnish the requisite amount of nitrogenous material for one day, if
potatoes alone were depended upon as food, a person would need to
consume about nine pounds; of turnips, sixteen pounds; of parsnips,
eighteen pounds; of cabbage, twenty-two pounds. Hence it is wise to use
them in combination with other articles of diet--grains, whole-wheat
bread, etc.--that supplement the qualities lacking in the vegetables.

TO SELECT VEGETABLES.--All roots and tubers should be plump, free
from decay, bruises, and disease, and with fresh, unshriveled skins.
They are good from the time of maturing until they begin to germinate.
Sprouted vegetables are unfit for food. Potato sprouts contain a poison
allied to belladonna. All vegetables beginning to decay are unfit for
food.

Green vegetables to be wholesome should be freshly gathered, crisp, and
juicy; those which have lain long in the market are very questionable
food. In Paris, a law forbids a market-man to offer for sale any green
vegetable kept more than one day. The use of stale vegetables is known
to have been the cause of serious illness.

KEEPING VEGETABLES.--If necessary to keep green vegetables for any
length of time, do not put them in water, as that will dissolve and
destroy some of their juices; but lay them in a cool, dark place,--on a
stone floor is best,--and do not remove their outer leaves until needed.
They should be cooked the day they are gathered, if possible. The best
way to freshen those with the stems when withered is to cut off a bit of
the stem or stem-end, and set only the cut part in water. The vegetables
will then absorb enough water to replace what has been lost by
evaporation.

Peas and beans should not be shelled until wanted. If, however, they are
not used as soon as shelled, cover them with pods and put in a cool
place.

Winter vegetables can be best kept wholesome by storing in a cool, dry
place of even temperature, and where neither warmth, moisture, nor light
is present to induce decay or germination. They should be well sorted,
the bruised or decayed, rejected, and the rest put into clean bins or
boxes; and should be dry and clean when stored. Vegetables soon absorb
bad flavors if left near anything odorous or decomposing, and are thus
rendered unwholesome. They should be looked over often, and decayed ones
removed. Vegetables, to be kept fit for food, should on no account be
stored in a cellar with barrels of fermenting pickle brine, soft soap,
heaps of decomposing rubbish, and other similar things frequently found
in the dark, damp vegetable cellars of modern houses.

PREPARATION AND COOKING.--Most vegetables need thorough washing
before cooking. Roots and tubers should be well cleaned before paring. A
vegetable brush or a small whisk broom is especially serviceable for
this purpose. If necessary to wash shelled beans and peas, it can best
be accomplished by putting them in a colander and dipping in and out of
large pans of water until clean. Spinach, lettuce, and other leaves may
be cleaned the same way.

Vegetables admit of much variety in preparation for the table, and are
commonly held to require the least culinary skill of any article of
diet. This is a mistake. Though the usual processes employed to make
vegetables palatable are simple, yet many cooks, from carelessness or
lack of knowledge of their nature and composition, convert some of the
most nutritious vegetables into dishes almost worthless as food or
almost impossible of digestion. It requires no little care and skill to
cook vegetables so that they will neither be underdone nor overdone, and
so that they will retain their natural flavors.

A general rule, applicable to all vegetables to be boiled or stewed, is
to cook them in as little water as may be without burning. The salts and
nutrient juices are largely lost in the water; and if this needs to be
drained off, much of the nutriment is apt to be wasted. Many cooks throw
away the true richness, while they serve the "husks" only. Condiments
and seasonings may cover insipid taste, but they cannot restore lost
elements. Vegetables contain so much water in their composition that it
is not necessary to add large quantities for cooking, as in the case of
the grains and legumes, which have lost nearly all their moisture in the
ripening process. Some vegetables are much better cooked without the
addition of water.

Vegetables to be cooked by boiling should be put into boiling water; and
since water loses its goodness by boiling, vegetables should be put in
as soon as the boiling begins. The process of cooking should be
continuous, and in general gentle heat is best. Remember that when water
is boiling, the temperature is not increased by violent bubbling. Keep
the cooking utensil closely covered. If water is added, let it also be
boiling hot.

Vegetables not of uniform size should be so assorted that those of the
same size may be cooked together, or large ones may be divided. Green
vegetables retain their color best if cook rapidly. Soda is sometimes
added to the water in which the vegetables are cooked, for the purpose
of preserving their colors, but this practice is very harmful.

Vegetables should be cooked until they are perfectly tender but not
overdone. Many cooks spoil their vegetables by cooking them too long,
while quite as many more serve them in an underdone state to preserve
their form. Either plan makes them less palatable, and likely to be
indigestible.

Steaming or baking is preferable for most vegetables, because their
finer flavors are more easily retained, and their food value suffers
less diminution. Particularly is this true of tubers.

The time required for cooking depends much upon the age and freshness of
the vegetables, as well as the method of cooking employed. Wilted
vegetables require a longer time for cooking than fresh ones.

TIME REQUIRED FOR COOKING.--The following is the approximate length
of time required for cooking some of the more commonly used
vegetables:--

Potatoes, baked, 30 to 45 minutes.

Potatoes, steamed, 20 to 40 minutes.

Potatoes, boiled (in jackets), 20 to 25 minutes after the water is
fairly boiling.

Potatoes, pared, about 20 minutes if of medium size; if very large, they
will require from 25 to 45 minutes.

Green corn, young, from 15 to 20 minutes.

Peas, 25 to 30 minutes.

Asparagus, 15 to 20 minutes, young; 30 to 50 if old.

Tomatoes, 1 to 2 hours.

String beans and shelled beans, 45 to 60 minutes or longer.

Beets, boiled, 1 hour if young; old, 3 to 5 hours.

Beets, baked, 3 to 6 hours. Carrots, 1 to 2 hours.

Parsnips, 45 minutes, young; old, 1 to 2 hours.

Turnips, young, 45 minutes; old, 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

Winter squash, 1 hour. Cabbage, young, 1 hour; old, 2 to 3 hours.

Vegetable oysters, 1 to 2 hours.

Celery, 20 to 30 minutes.

Spinach, 20 to 60 minutes or more.

Cauliflower, 20 to 40 minutes.

Summer squash, 20 to 60 minutes.

If vegetables after being cooked cannot be served at once, dish them up
as soon as done, and place the dishes in a _bain marie_ or in pans of
hot water, where they will keep of even temperature, but not boil.
Vegetables are never so good after standing, but they spoil less kept in
this way than any other. The water in the pans should be of equal depth
with the food in the dishes. Stewed vegetables and others prepared with
a sauce, may, when cold, be reheated in a similar manner.

[Illustration: Bain Marie.]

If salt is to be used to season, one third of a teaspoonful for each
pint of cooked vegetables is an ample quantity.

THE IRISH POTATO.

DESCRIPTION.--The potato, a plant of the order _Solanaceae_, is
supposed to be indigenous to South America. Probably it was introduced
into Europe by the Spaniards early in the sixteenth century, but
cultivated only as a curiosity. To Sir Walter Raleigh, however, is
usually given the credit of its introduction as a food, he having
imported it from Virginia to Ireland in 1586, where its valuable
nutritive qualities were first appreciated. The potato has so long
constituted the staple article of diet in Ireland, that it has come to
be commonly, though incorrectly, known as the Irish potato.

The edible portion of the plant is the tuber, a thick, fleshy mass or
enlarged portion of an underground stem, having upon its surface a
number of little buds, or "eyes," each capable of independent growth.
The tuber is made up of little cells filled with starch granules,
surrounded and permeated with a watery fluid containing a small
percentage of the albuminous or nitrogenous elements. In cooking, heat
coagulates the albumen within and between the cells, while the starch
granules absorb the watery portion, swell, and distend the cells. The
cohesion between these is also destroyed, and they easily separate. When
these changes are complete, the potato becomes a loose, farinaceous
mass, or "mealy." When, however, the liquid portion is not wholly
absorbed, and the cells are but imperfectly separated, the potato
appears waxen, watery, or soggy. In a mealy state the potato is easily
digested; but when waxy or water-soaked, it is exceedingly trying to the
digestive powers.

It is obvious, then, that the great _desideratum_ in cooking the potato,
is to promote the expansion and separation of its cells; in other words,
to render it mealy. Young potatoes are always waxy, and consequently
less wholesome than ripe ones. Potatoes which have been frozen and
allowed to thaw quickly are much sweeter and more watery, because in
thawing the starch changes into sugar. Frozen potatoes should be thawed
in cold water and cooked at once, or kept frozen until ready for use.

PREPARATION AND COOKING.--Always pare potatoes very thin. Much of
the most nutritious part of the tuber lies next its outer covering; so
care should be taken to waste as little as possible. Potatoes cooked
with the skins on are undoubtedly better than those pared. The chief
mineral element contained in the potato is potash, an important
constituent of the blood. Potash salts are freely soluble in water, and
when the skin is removed, there is nothing to prevent these salts from
escaping into the water in which the potato is boiled. If the potato is
cooked in its "jacket," the skin, which does not in general burst open
until the potato is nearly done, serves to keep this valuable element
largely inside the potato while cooking. For the same reason it is
better not to pare potatoes and put them in water to soak over night, as
many cooks are in the habit of doing, to have them in readiness for
cooking for breakfast.

Potatoes to be pared should be first washed and dried. It is a good plan
to wash quite a quantity at one time, to be used as needed. After
paring, drop at once into cold water and rinse them thoroughly. It is a
careless habit to allow pared potatoes to fall among the skins, as in
this way they become stained, and appear black and discolored after
cooking. Scrubbing with a vegetable brush is by far the best means for
cleaning potatoes to be cooked with the skins on.

When boiled in their skins, the waste, according to Letheby, is about
three per cent, while without them it is not less than fourteen per
cent, or more than two ounces in every pound. Potatoes boiled without
skins should be cooked very gently.

Steaming, roasting, and baking are much better methods for cooking
potatoes than boiling, for reasons already given. Very old potatoes are
best stewed or mashed. When withered or wilted, they are freshened by
standing in cold water for an hour or so before cooking. If diseased or
badly sprouted, potatoes are wholly unfit for food.

_RECIPES._

BOILED POTATOES (IN JACKETS).--Choose potatoes of uniform size,
free from specks. Wash and scrub them well with a coarse cloth or brush;
dig out all eyes and rinse in cold water; cook in just enough water to
prevent burning, till easily pierced with a fork, not till they have
burst the skin and fallen in pieces. Drain thoroughly, take out the
potatoes, and place them in the oven for five minutes, or place the
kettle back on the range; remove the skins, and cover with a cloth to
absorb all moisture, and let them steam three or four minutes. By either
method they will be dry and mealy. In removing the skins, draw them off
without cutting the potatoes.

BOILED POTATOES (WITHOUT SKINS).--Pare very thin, and wash clean.
If not of an equal size, cut the larger potatoes in two. Cook in only
sufficient water to prevent burning until a fork will easily pierce
their center; drain thoroughly, place the kettle back on the range,
cover with a cloth to absorb the moisture, and let them dry four or five
minutes. Shake the kettle several times while they are drying, to make
them floury.

STEAMED POTATOES.--Potatoes may be steamed either with or without
the skin. Only mature potatoes can be steamed. Prepare as for boiling;
place in a steamer, over boiling water, and steam until tender. If water
is needed to replenish, let it always be boiling hot, and not allow the
potatoes to stop steaming, or they will be watery. When done, uncover,
remove the potatoes to the oven, and let them dry a few minutes. If
peeled before steaming, shake the steamer occasionally, to make them
floury.

ROASTED POTATOES.--Potatoes are much more rich and mealy roasted
than cooked in any other way. Wash them very carefully, dry with a
cloth, and wrap in tissue paper; bury in ashes not too hot, then cover
with coals and roast until tender. The coals will need renewing
occasionally, unless the roasting is done very close to the main fire.

BAKED POTATOES.--Choose large, smooth potatoes as near the same
size as possible; wash and scrub with a brush until perfectly clean; dry
with a cloth, and bake in a moderately hot oven until a fork will easily
pierce them, or until they yield to pressure between the fingers. They
are better turned about occasionally. In a slow oven the skins become
hardened and thickened, and much of the most nutritious portion is
wasted. When done, press each one till it bursts slightly, as that will
allow the steam to escape, and prevent the potatoes from becoming soggy.
They should be served at once, in a folded napkin placed in a hot dish.
Cold baked potatoes may be warmed over by rebaking, if of good quality
and not overdone the first time.

STUFFED POTATO.--Prepare and bake large potatoes of equal size, as
directed in the preceding recipe. When done, cut them evenly three
fourths of an inch from the end, and scrape out the inside, taking care
not to break the skins. Season the potato with salt and a little thick
sweet cream, being careful not to have it too moist, and beat thoroughly
with a fork until light; refill the skins with the seasoned potato, fit
the broken portions together, and reheat in the oven. When hot
throughout, wrap the potatoes in squares of white tissue paper fringed
at both ends. Twist the ends of the paper lightly together above the
fringe, and stand the potatoes in a vegetable dish with the cut end
uppermost. When served, the potatoes are held in the hand, one end of
the paper untwisted, the top of the potato removed, and the contents
eaten with a fork or spoon.

STUFFED POTATOES NO. 2.--Prepare large, smooth potatoes, bake until
tender, and cut them in halves; scrape out the inside carefully, so as
not to break the skins; mash smoothly, mix thoroughly with one third
freshly prepared cottage cheese; season with nice sweet cream, and salt
if desired. Fill the shells with the mixture, place cut side uppermost,
in a pudding dish, and brown in the oven.

MASHED POTATOES.--Peel and slice potatoes enough to make two
quarts; put into boiling water and cook until perfectly tender, but not
much broken; drain, add salt to taste; turn into a hot earthen dish, and
set in the oven for a few moments to dry. Break up the potatoes with a
silver fork; add nearly a cup of cream, and beat hard at least five
minutes till light and creamy; serve at once, or they will become heavy.
If preferred, the potatoes may be rubbed through a hot sieve into a hot
plate, or mashed with a potato beetle, but they are less light and flaky
when mashed with a beetle. If cream for seasoning is not obtainable, a
well-beaten egg makes a very good substitute. Use in the proportion of
one egg to about five potatoes. For mashed potatoes, if all utensils and
ingredients are first heated, the result will be much better.